School maintenance worker Susan Trotman shows Dennis Wolfson where she found the box of baseballs and other memorabilia at Wolfson High School. An autograph specialist estimates the value of the balls at between $2,000 and $4,000.

Maintenance worker Susan Trotman found three baseballs in the ceiling at Wolfson High, which were returned to Dennis Wolfson. The balls, signed by the 1957 World Series teams - the Milwaukee Braves and the New York Yankees - belonged to Wolfson's father, Samuel Wolfson.

When Duval County Public Schools maintenance worker Susan Trotman started replacing ceiling tiles in one of Wolfson High School's science labs, she had no idea she would stumble onto a baseball memorabilia gold mine and solve a nearly 50-year-old mystery.

Trotman, a 33-year employee of the district, discovered a box of items hidden in the ceiling of the school's lab.

When the box was pulled out and the dust waved away, Trotman could see it was filled with trophies, a photograph and some baseballs.

But not just any old baseballs. These were signed by the starting lineups of the 1957 World Series teams, the Milwaukee Braves and the New York Yankee s.

"That was awesome," Trotman said. "I could not believe those balls were signed by those baseball players."

Many of the signatures on the two balls make up a who's who of baseball legends: Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Casey Stengel, Whitey Ford and Billy Martin, to name a few.

The balls were wrapped in 1962 copies of the newspaper and had been in the school's ceiling for almost five decades. The photo in the box was of Samuel Wolfson, the baseballs' owner and the man the school is named after.

Wolfson's son, Dennis Wolfson, delivered the balls, trophies and picture to the school in the 1960s for a ceremony at the school.

Trotman turned all the box's contents over to the school's principal, David Garner, who said he suspected someone might have stashed the box in the ceiling at the time of the '60s ceremony with the intent of taking it later.

Garner alerted Dennis Wolfson that the memorabilia had been found.

"It's just an amazing story," Wolfson said. "After all these years."

Garner said he got a kick out of looking at the names on the balls and recalling his youth.

"I think many youngsters really like the Yankees because they were always in the forefront," he said. "When we looked at the balls, we all knew Hank Aaron, but we didn't know anyone else on that one. But when we looked at the Yankees, we knew just about everyone."

Wolfson's father was owner of the Jacksonville Suns and obtained the baseballs when he attended the 1957 World Series. Wolfson said he never expected to see the baseballs again.

Trotman said she didn't know the baseballs were anything special, but in her mind it didn't matter.

"It doesn't matter to me how expensive or not expensive they were, I earn my favors through God, so I turned them in," she said. "As far as I'm concerned, I did what I think was right."

Jim Dodson, owner of the local Palm Beach Autographs, said depending on the condition of the baseballs, the Braves ball could be valued at $2,000 to $2,500 and the Yankees ball $3,500 to $4,000.

Wolfson applauded Trotman's integrity.

"This lady's story is the real story," he said. "In today's world, for a quality individual to go through the effort to do the right thing."